ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Media Release

Australians urged to support world’s largest marine park

December 26, 2011 – for immediate release

Two eminent tropical marine scientists today urged Australians to get behind a plan by the Federal Government to transform nearly a million square kilometers of the Coral Sea into the world’s largest marine park.

“The Coral Sea is one of a handful of places in the world where a very large oceanic no-take park can be created and monitored in a single national jurisdiction,” say Professors Terry Hughes and Bob Pressey of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University. “Public comment on the proposal is now open – and it is time for all Australians to have their say.”

“It is vital that we protect the Coral Sea’s immense environmental and heritage values from the escalating threats of overfishing and climate change while there is still time to do so,” Prof. Hughes explains.

“We consider that more of the Park should be closed to fishing, to set a new international standard in marine care.”

Scientific evidence is amassing that global marine ecosystems have been extensively degraded by overfishing, pollution and man-made global warming. The Coral Sea is one of the few regions where these impacts have been relatively small.

Eleven percent of the Earth’s land habitats are now set aside as national parks to conserve their biodiversity and ecosystem services; in contrast, less than 0.1% of the world’s oceans are fully protected, the researchers point out.

“The decision to create the world’s largest protected ocean ecosystem will enhance Australia’s reputation as a world leader in the stewardship of marine biodiversity and will set a new global benchmark for large-scale protection” says Professor Bob Pressey, who specializes in conservation planning and the design of marine parks.

The Coral Sea provides critical habitats for many species, including critically endangered Hawksbill and endangered Green turtles, 25 species of whales and dolphins and 27 species of seabird. At least 13 species of seabird breed on Coral Sea islands, including regionally important populations of the red-footed Booby, least frigate bird and greater frigate bird. It is one of the few places on Earth where large pelagic fishes (tuna, billfish and sharks) have not yet been severely depleted.

“The unsustainable bycatch of turtles, sharks and birds in ocean fisheries, and the rapid decline of large sharks from illegal finning are major concerns worldwide. They warrant immediate intervention to prevent serious long-term damage,” says Prof. Hughes.

“The Government’s proposal to ban pelagic longlines - kilometer long fishing lines with hundreds of hooks – across two thirds of the Coral Sea Park is an important step forward. However, we believe the Government should consider going further, and exclude longlines altogether. It can compensate the very small number of commercial operators who are fishing the area today,” he says.

“It will be far cheaper to manage the Coral Sea as a single, large no-take area rather than the proposed combination of four separate zones, which include no-take and recreation-only fishing areas,” says Prof. Pressey, who has published a detailed economic analysis of the options.

“The present plan can be improved by offering more protection to oceanic coral reefs that are close to the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The Coral Sea acts as a vital reservoir for reef biodiversity during rapid changes in climate and sea level. It is relatively free from the land-based pollution that affects inshore and mid-shelf coral reefs in the GBR. And it has much lower levels of fishing.”

Professor Hughes says the present plan’s provision of a zone for unrestricted catch-and-release recreational fishing is unwise, because the released fish will have an unacceptably low chance of survival.

“The area still has healthy shark populations, and released reef or pelagic fish will simply be fast food for sharks,” he cautions. “It will be simpler, cheaper and more effective from a conservation viewpoint to protect the whole Coral Sea area as one no-take zone”.

“We know from our other research that no-take areas within the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Marine Park export larvae to surrounding fished areas, and help to maintain fish stocks and fisheries. Preserving more of the Coral Sea along the outer edge of the GBR will also benefit fishers, both commercial and recreational, by replenishing fish stocks that are harvested closer to the mainland coast.”